Meat.

I went through this weird stage about a year ago... two years ago...?  (I've recently grown and born a child, don't judge.)  Where my uncle declared that my family lineage is not Mexican as we always thought, but that we're actually Jewish.  Some smarty-pants DNA study threw off everything I ever knew!  Of course, as a child, growing up in South Tucson, I always wondered why I didn't look like all my little Mexican friends.  They had thick black hair, and mine was fine and brown.  They had beautiful brown skin, and I was white, but with patience I could tan to a beautiful olive.  Even though, I was never the same color.  I had these circles under my eyes that I've fought since I learned what foundation was.  Oh, and did I mention they all had BEAUTIFUL, envy invoking eyebrows?  Yeah, mine are straight, and wimpy, and the shape is just over all wrong. Oh yes, let's not forget that bump on my nose.  Thank my Irish mother that at least my nose is small!  So you can imagine, that the moment my dad said, "Jew," I suddenly looked in the mirror and my cosmetic world made sense.

Oh, how I embraced it.  I embraced it with such excitement, that my perfect Mexican Spanish accent flew out the window in about a second.  All my aspirations to speak the perfect fluid Spanish dissipated.  I regret that now, of course.  I had sat through two years of college Spanish in my desperation to prove my Mexican lineage, that I had never been able to properly connect with.  And all of a sudden, I was free.  Also, I stopped caking cover-up under my eyes, and embraced my new-found lineage.  (After all this spiritual-soul-searching-where-did-I-come-from-who-am-I business, my baby was born with a specific Hispanic birth mark.  So my daughter proves to me there's a little Mexican in there somewhere.)

So why do I bring this up now?  BECAUSE I JUST MADE MACHACA AND ITS SO STINKING YUMMY I FINALLY FELT MEXICAN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIIIIIIIIFE!

Granted, the recipe came from SkinnyMs.com, so that tells you right there that it's far from truly Mexican.  BUT MAN IS IT GOOD!  Click here for the recipe.  Just a note, I changed a couple of things to work from my 10pm kitchen.  I used Shallots instead of a small onion.  I don't even know the difference, but Shallots are cuter, and sound fancier, so I had some.  I used powdered Garlic, instead of cloves.  I was going to risk the whole operation and attempt it without Jalapenos, when I discovered a can of Jalapenos in my pantry!  Thank you Mother in Law for planning to attempt a Mexican recipe who knows how long ago.  The canned Jalapenos are teensy, so I used a whole bunch, instead of one (Though my husband would tell you that I just like to suffer).  Also, for my canned tomato sauce, I buy low sodium.  Since the pregnancy, any significant amount of sodium easily removes my wedding ring from my finger, so I eat to avoid sausage fingers.  Even with less salt, the seasonings in the recipe (including my absolute favorite, Cumin) are so devine, you'll never miss it.  But I imagine if you follow this recipe to the T, you'll get a nice, strong punch in the face.  It's that good.